Old man teeth - and my kitchen looks like a drug lab

 Poor Saumur had his dental surgery this week. No fun at any age, but at 27 it's pretty worrisome! Saumur all his life has never been a fan of trailer loading (to put it lightly), and his last trip off the property was to Michigan State University for his colic surgery four years ago. We practiced loading a few days before the trip to Hadley Hill Equine, and with Remy as emotional support, it worked.

Remy traveled with Saumur to the hospital, but then Saumur had to content himself with a 2 year old stud colt in the stall next to him. The first injections went reasonably well, but once in the stock (a padded stand) Saumur's adrenaline went into full flight mode and Dr. Turner had a hard time keeping him sedated. To add to the nail biting situation was that the tooth was cemented in, and had to be chiseled out in pieces. It took over two hours, and it was pretty nerve wracking (at least to me). Dr. Turner had warned me before "there will be a lot of blood, so if you can't handle it don't stay". I felt Saumur needed me to hold his hoof (figuratively, of course) so I stayed - and I didn't faint! Unfortunately, the procedure took longer than expected, so the second tooth couldn't be extracted. We earned ourselves a return trip ...

I have to say Saumur is the most resilient horse I've ever encountered. When I checked on him in the afternoon and hand-walked him he was all chipper, dragging me along, and rolling in the clinic's indoor arena. He went home the next day, loading himself on the trailer.

Now at home we have quite the drug regimen: 32 antibiotic pills a day, plus pain killers, plus pre- and probiotics, soaking his food, and salt water rinses of the wound.

The pills are the biggest issue, who wants to eat 16 pills in a setting? I tried to grind them with a mortar and pestle but that was way too tough. Enter a coffee and spice grinder, purchased while having to see some guy's underwear at the Walmart checkout. Yuk! The things you do for your horse!

Now the kitchen is transformed in a 'drug lab', I am wearing a mask because grinding the pills is a dusty business (and I don't want to absorb all the antibiotics). The powder gets mixed with water, put into a giant syringe and tag teamed (JP and I) into Saumur's mouth twice a day. 10 more days... I think I'll ask Dr. Turner for some 'Happy Pills' next time around, at least I'll get something out of my 'drug lab', too 😋

Saumur's daily dose of antibiotics